The present invention relates to a method and system for inspecting thermal equipment located at a facility site which is under a specified contract for the thermal equipment.
Thermal equipment, for example, boilers are under a legal obligation of being controlled to their normal state and maintained in safety on business proprietors"" own responsibility. Therefore, it has become a practice for proprietors to perform periodical autonomous inspections (examinations) and maintain records of the periodical autonomous inspections in the form of daily reports, monthly reports, etc. Records or checks to be described in the daily reports, monthly reports, etc. are proofs that certify the boiler""s having been normally operated/managed at the time when the periodical autonomous inspection was performed. The daily reports, monthly reports, etc. are preserved with those proofs described.
For persons in charge of equipment or boiler operators at a facility site where a boiler is provided, it has become routine work to record operating states, such as consumed fuel quantity, operating pressure, exhaust gas temperature, feed water temperature, electrical conductivity and feed water hardness, in daily reports periodically, normally two or three times (or every time) a day, while recording abnormalities (e.g., alarms) that have occurred as well with their time of occurrence, contents and the like in the daily reports, and to preserve and manage the daily reports. It has also been a routine to monthly rearrange information data as to the above various types of operating states in the form of monthly reports by totaling or averaging those data. It is noted that those rearranged data of monthly reports are used also for control of boiler tendencies, for investigations of causes in the event of accidents or as disclosure materials to examiners on inspections by third parties.
Under these circumstances, the persons in charge of equipment or boiler operators are required to periodically record operating states or the like in the daily reports, which would be quite a heavy burden as it is on an every-day basis. Also, the work of totaling or averaging the data in the preparation of monthly reports has also been quite laborious.
The present invention having been accomplished in view of the above circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide a method and system for inspecting thermal equipment which allows a reduction of labor.
In order to achieve the above object, in a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for inspecting thermal equipment, comprising the steps of: fetching information related to operating state of thermal equipment via a communication line into an information processing device provided at a management center connected via the communication line to a facility site which is equipped with the thermal equipment and which is under a specified contract for the thermal equipment; making the information processing device execute creation of report data for use of inspection recording related to an inspection of the thermal equipment as well as delivery of the created report data to the facility site; and outputting from an output device a report based on the report data delivered from the information processing device at the facility site.
In a second aspect, the invention provides a method for inspecting thermal equipment as described in the first aspect, wherein the information related to operating state of the thermal equipment is fetched into the information processing device at a specified time point.
In a third aspect, the invention provides a method for inspecting thermal equipment as described in the first aspect, wherein the information related to operating state of the thermal equipment is fetched into the information processing device at a specified time interval.
In a fourth aspect, the invention provides a method for inspecting thermal equipment as described in the first or third aspect, wherein in event of occurrence of an abnormality of the thermal equipment, abnormality information on the thermal equipment is fetched into the information processing device, and the fetched abnormality information is included in the report data.
In a fifth aspect, the invention provides a method for inspecting thermal equipment as described in the first or fourth aspect, wherein the report data is stored in a data storage device at each time of creation of the report data, and the information processing device executes creation of total report data for a specified period at which the stored report data is to be totaled as well as delivery of the created total report data to the facility site, while at the facility site, a total report of the specified period based on the total report data delivered from the information processing device is outputted from the output device.
In order to achieve the above object, in a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system for inspecting thermal equipment to be built between a facility site which is equipped with thermal equipment and which is under a specified contract for the thermal equipment, and a management center which serves for maintenance and management of the thermal equipment, the system comprising: a communication line for connecting the facility site and the management center to each other; an operating-state information collecting device provided at the facility site and serving for collecting information related to operating state of the thermal equipment; a facility-side modem interposed between the operating-state information collecting device and the communication line; an information processing device which is provided at the management center and which fetches the information related to operating state of the thermal equipment via the communication line and further which executes creation of report data for use of inspection recording related to an inspection of the thermal equipment as well as delivery of the created report data to the facility site; a center-side modem interposed between the information processing device and the communication line; and an output device which is provided at the facility site and which serves for outputting a report based on the delivered report data.
In a seventh aspect, the invention provides a system for inspecting thermal equipment as described in the sixth aspect, wherein in event of occurrence of an abnormality of the thermal equipment, the information processing device is capable of fetching abnormality information on the thermal equipment and making the fetched abnormality information included in the report data.
In an eighth aspect, the invention provides a system for inspecting thermal equipment as described in the sixth or seventh aspect, wherein the system further comprises a data storage device for storing therein the report data at each time of creation of the report data, and wherein the information processing device is capable of executing creation of total report data for a specified period at which the report data stored in the data storage device is to be totaled as well as delivery of the created total report data to the facility site, while at the facility site, the output device is capable of outputting a total report of the specified period based on the total report data delivered from the information processing device.
According to the first aspect of the present invention, first of all, information related to operating state of the thermal equipment is fetched into the information processing device of the management center via the communication line. Next, creation of report data for use of inspection recording related to the inspection of the thermal equipment as well as delivery of the created report data to the facility site are executed by the information processing device. Subsequently, at the facility site, a report based on the report data delivered from the information processing device of the management center is outputted from the output device.
With the adoption of the method for inspecting thermal equipment according to the present invention, a report related to the inspection of thermal equipment can automatically be prepared as shown above.
According to the second aspect of the invention, information related to operating state of the thermal equipment is fetched into the information processing device when the specified time has come. As a result of this, information fetching can be achieved more accurately than persons do.
According to the third aspect of the invention, information related to operating state of the thermal equipment is fetched into the information processing device at a specified time interval. As a result of this, information fetching can be achieved more accurately than persons do.
According to the fourth aspect of the invention, in event of occurrence of an abnormality of the thermal equipment, abnormality information is fetched into the information processing device. Then, the fetched abnormality information is included in the report data. As a result of this, abnormality information is additionally described in the automatically prepared report related to the inspection of the thermal equipment.
According to the fifth aspect of the invention, report data is stored in the data storage device at each time of creation of the report data. Also, by the information processing device, stored data are totaled, and the creation of total report data for a specified period as well as the delivery of the created total report data to the facility site are executed. Then, at the facility site, a total report of the specified period based on the total report data delivered from the information processing device is outputted from the output device.
With the adoption of the method for inspecting thermal equipment according to the present invention, a total report of a specified period related to the inspection of thermal equipment can automatically be prepared as shown above.
According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, there can be provided a system for inspecting thermal equipment to be built between a facility site which is equipped with thermal equipment and a management center which serves for maintenance and management of the thermal equipment. The facility site is assumed to be under a specified contract for the thermal equipment. The facility site is equipped with an operating-state information collecting device, a facility-side modem and an output device. Also, the management center is equipped with an information processing device and a center-side modem. Further, the facility site and the management center are connected to each other by a communication line.
More specifically, the operating-state information collecting device collects information related to operating state of the thermal equipment, the facility-side modem is interposed between the operating-state information collecting device and the communication line, and serves for enabling communications with the facility-site side. Also, the information processing device fetches the information collected by the operating-state information collecting device, and executes the creation of report data as well as the delivery of the created report data to the facility site. The center-side modem is interposed between the information processing device and the communication line, and serves for enabling communications with the facility-site side. The output device serves for outputting a report based on the delivered report data.
Accordingly, information related to operating state of the thermal equipment is fetched into the information processing device of the management center via the communication line. Also, the creation of report data for use of inspection recording related to the inspection of the thermal equipment as well as the delivery of the created report data to the facility site are executed by the information processing device. Further, at the facility site, a report based on the report data delivered from the information processing device of the management center is outputted from the output device. As shown above, a report related to the inspection of thermal equipment is automatically prepared.
According to the seventh aspect of the invention, in event of occurrence of an abnormality of the thermal equipment, the information processing device can fetch abnormality information on the thermal equipment and make the fetched abnormality information included in report data. As a result of this, abnormality information is additionally described in the automatically prepared report related to the inspection of the thermal equipment.
According to the eighth aspect of the invention, the management center is further equipped with a data storage device. The data storage device stores therein report data created by the information processing device. Also, the information processing device provided at the management center executes creation of total report data for a specified period at which the report data stored in the data storage device is to be totaled as well as delivery of the created total report data to the facility site. Further, the output device outputs a total report of the specified period based on the total report data delivered from the information processing device.
Accordingly, a total report of a specified period related to the inspection of the thermal equipment is automatically prepared.